Emerson College fires 10 employees, sees enrollment drop following anti-Israel demonstrations
Emerson’s president had earlier mentioned the fall in enrollment and attributed it partly to fallout from previous anti-Israel protests.
During a protest in April, anti-Israel students had blocked a public path through the school and reportedly targeted Jewish passersby.
Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts has fired 10 employees following anti-Israel protests at the school earlier this spring.
“College leadership has made the difficult decision to eliminate ten staff positions to help us realize our necessary cost savings,” announced an Aug. 13 email sent by the college’s leadership. “We are grateful for the contributions these dedicated staff members have made to the College, and we have made arrangements to support them in this transition.”
School President Jay M. Bernhardt initially announced the plans for the staff reduction on June 18, citing dropping enrollment in the college. Bernhardt attributed the falling enrollment in part to the negative attention that Emerson has gotten due to disruptive anti-Israel protests at the college.
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“We attribute this reduction to multiple factors, including national enrollment trends away from smaller private institutions, an enrollment deposit delay in response to the new FAFSA rollout, student protests targeting our yield events and campus tours, and negative press and social media generated from the demonstrations and arrests,” Bernhardt wrote in June.
Emerson has seen several pro-Palestinian demonstrations and other actions this year.
In January, students at Emerson joined other students from Suffolk University and the Berklee College of Music, also in Boston, to stage a walkout that disrupted traffic to protest Israel.
In April, Hundreds of Emerson students began an anti-Israel camp at the school, blocking foot traffic on a public path, violating city regulations, and ignoring warnings from police to disperse. Bernhardt gave Boston police officers a green light to come on campus, resulting in the arrest of more than 100 disruptive protestors.
During the protest, “some of these protesters even went so far as demanding that members of the public identify themselves before allowing them to pass down the pedestrian alley,” according to the police.
One Emerson student covering the protest mentioned the protestors’ intimidating behavior: “I was in there [taking photos] yesterday, and someone told me, no Zionists are allowed in this part of the alley, and I was like, I live here, I pay tuition here. A lot of our friends don’t feel safe to leave our buildings.”
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Emerson’s Student Government Association condemned Bernhardt for his decision to allow police officers to end the disruptive encampment, passing a resolution urging him to step down.
The university administration declared the anti-Israel actions on campus to be “unacceptable” in an April 24 statement: “Emerson has received credible reports that some protestors are engaging in targeted harassment and intimidation of Jewish supporters of Israel and students, staff, faculty, and neighbors seeking to pass through the alley. This type of behavior is unacceptable on our campus.”
Campus Reform has contacted Emerson College for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
